Counter



'July 16, 1957 F. T. BLAcKMAN COUNTER Filed sept. e, 1955 FIG. I

FIG. 2

INVENTOR. FRED T BLACK/WAN ATT 'QNEYS United States Patent:l O ce COUNTER Application september s, 195s, serial No. 533,164 9 claims. (ci. man) The present invention relates to counters and more particularly to a mechanism for use with the number wheels of a counter to close an electrical circuit when a selected or predetermined count is reached on the counter.

It frequently is desirable in the use of counters to effect the actuation of an external device when a predetermined number is reached in order to control the operation being counted or to indicate at a lremote station the registry of the predetermined number. .Such a counter might for example be used for any number of applications where it is desired to perform a certain number of operations and then cease or vary the operation.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved electrical control device which will provide a means to effect the actuation of an external control or indicating device upon the registry of a predetermined number on the number wheels of the mechanical counter.

Another object is to provide such a control device wherein the predetermined number is easily set or changed.

Still a further object is to provide a device of the character described which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture yet is capable of long trouble-free periods of operation.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereafter set forth andthe scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the drawings: Fig. l is a top view of a mechanical counter of a well known type in which the mechanism of the present invention has been embodied;

Fig. 2 is a side view of thel counter of Fig. l with a side plate partially cut away to show certain elements of the counter and predetermining mechamsm;

Fig. 3 is a side view of one of the elements of the predetermining mechanism;

Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing one of the number wheels of the counter and the contact element of the predetermining device carried by and rotated with the number wheel; and

Fig. 5 is a side view of the number wheel with the contact element in assembled position but with a portion of the element cut away.

Referring to the drawings, the counter to which the mechanism of the present invention has been applied is of a well known commercial type. The counter is mounted in a housing 10 having side plates 11 and across the top of the housing 10 is located a window 12 through which the number on the number wheels 13 may be viewed. The number wheels 13 are rotatably mounted on a shaft 18 which is journaled in the housing and extends longitudinally through one end of the housing 10 to receive a reset knob 17 by means of which it may l 2,799,740 Patented July 16, 1957 be manually turned. In addition to providing an axle for the number Wheels 13, the shaft 18 is utilized to reset the number wheels to zero by means of the usual longitudinal slot (not shown) in the shaft which cooperates with pickup pawls (not shown) internally of the number wheels. The resetting mechanism is not shown in detail as it is not a part of the invention and its structure and operation are well known to those skilled in the art.

In operation of the counter the number wheel 13 of lowest order is driven through a gear 20 having a hub 19 secured to the number wheel, the gear 20 meshing with a gear 21 mounted on drive shaft 22 which is journaled in the housing and extends outwardly from the other side for connection to the machine or other associated mechanism whose movements are being counted. A jack shaft 23 mounted longitudinally of the housing 10 has rotatably mounted thereon spacedapart transfer pinions 24 situated between the number wheels of higher and lower order which are adapted to be periodically engaged by a two-toothed driving gear segment 25 preferably formed integrally on each number wheel 13 of lower order and meshing with driven gear 26 on each of the number wheels of higher order. The transfer pinions 24, driving gear segments 25 and driven gears 26 coact in a manner well known to those familiar with the art to advance a particular number wheel of higher order by one number when the number wheel of the next lower order has completed one full revolution.

In accordance with the invention, a contact element 31 of novel construction is mounted on the hub 35 of each of the number wheels 13 for rotation therewith. The contact element 31 consists of one C-shaped portion 34 which retains the contact element on the hub 35 of the wheel and a second C-shaped portion 36 inclined outwardly from the hub 35`and having formed at its free ends two struck up contact points 37, 38,

The retaining portion 34 and the contact carrying portion 36 of the contact element 31 are preferably formed from a single piece of metal by stamping or other suitable means to provide a figure-eight-like structure. The two C-shaped portions may then be folded toward each other to form the structure shown in Fig. 4 wherein the C-shaped portions are hinged together along their backs or in other words along the portions thereof generally opposite the free ends thereof. The material from which the contact element 31 is yfabricated preferably should have the properties of resiliency and good electrical conductivity for reasons which will be obvious from the subsequent description.

The number wheels 13 'are constructed with an annular shoulder 30 forming a recess 39 in which the contact element 31 is inserted. The retaining portion 34 is provided with a V-shaped cross section so that when said portion is inserted in the recess 39 of the number wheel 13 one leg 48 of the V will be in the plane of the bottom of said recess and the edge 49 of the other leg of the V which forms the inner diameter of the retaining portion will engage the outer diameter of the hub 35. The inner diameter o f said retaining portion 34 is preferably slightly less than the outer diameter of the hub 35 so that the inner edge 49 of the retaining portion will be forced toward the other leg 48 of the V and thus will -be created a spring action which serves to axially retain the contact element 31 on the hub 35. When the contact element is properly mounted on the hub 35 the shoulders and 91 of the contact element abut protrusions 32 and 33 which are formed in the shoulder 30 of the number wheels. This insures that the contact element will be assembled on the number wheel in proper rotated position and also prevents relative rotation of the ring and wheel during operation of the counter. The ends of the retaining portion 34 of the contact element abut either side of the two-toothed gear segment 25 of the number wheels to provide additional locating means also servingA to retain the contact element against rotative movement relative to the number wheel. Two small lugs or ears 29 are formed onthe periphery of the hub 35 of the number wheel and serves to axially engage the inner edge a minimum effort and yet at the same time, the contactelement will have a long life and will not become loose or disengaged from the number wheel during normal operation. l

The stator plates 40 are formed of non-conducting material and as shownin Fig. 3 are slidably received in the slots 41 and 42 transversely disposed in the housing of the counter. The stator plate 40 has an opening 43 v to accommodate the shaft 18 and an opening 44 to accommodate the draft shaft 22. The stator plate 40 also has a recess 45 to accommodate the jack shaft 23 and transfer pinion 24. Disposed about the opening 43 isa circular grounding strip 46 printed, plated or suitably attached to the stator plate. Spaced from the grounding strip 46 are contacts 50 to 59 which are circulariy arranged to correspond to the'numerals 0 through 9 on the associated number-wheel. In the operation of the device the concircuit throughv'the grounding strip terminal 8l, contact -element 31, and selected terminal of each stator plate in series. The ends of the circuit as, forl example, the

l terminal 8O in the left-most stator plate and the selected 49 of the retaining portion 34 of the contact element to numeral terminal on the wheel of lowest order are connected to wires 8.1 and 82 leading to die extension of the casing for connection to an external electrical control circuit, signaling means, ete.

Thus, it can be seen that there has been provided an improved device for closing an electrical circuit when the number wheels of a mechanical counter have reached a predetermined number. The device is simple and obviously economical to manufacture while providing easy accessibility for changing or settingof the predetermined number combined with inherently trouble-free operation.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements ofthe scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim:

l. Electrical contact means for use with a number wheel comprising a metallic member having two angularly related C shaped portions, said C shaped portions being resiliently hinged together along the backs thereof one of said C shaped portions being dimensioned to emtacts 50 and 59 are engaged by the contact point 38 of l the contact element 31 in sequence as the contact element 31 rotates with the associated number wheel 13, and the grounding strip 46 is continuously engaged 'by the contact point 37, the contact point 37 being disposed at a radius equal to, that of the grounding strip 46 and the contact point 38 being disposed at a radius equal to .that of the contacts 50 to 59. The contact points 37 and 38 are electrically connected as they are integral with the metal fabricated carrying portion 34. Therejs no electrical connection to the number wheel, however, as the n umber wheels 13 on which the retaining portions are mounted are made of a non-conductive material such as plastic. Thus the contact elements 31 may in themselves conduct current only from the groundingX strip 46 to a stator contact.

The stator contacts 50 and 59 are connected to terminals 60 through 69 respectively by means of connectors 70 through 79 respectively.' Also terminals through 69 are connected to terminals 86 to 89 by means of connectors (not shown), on the reverse side of the stator plate in order to provide all of the terminals for contacts 50 to 59 in one easily accessible location. The grounding strip terminal 47 is also connected to a terminal 80 by means of a connector (not shown) on the reverse side of the stator plate. All of the contacts and connectors described may be economically formed on the stator plates by printing, if desired.

It is believed that the operation of the device will be apparent from the foregoing description and the following explanation. If it is desired, for example, to set the number 14,400 shown in Fig. l as the predetermined number the stator plates 40 are connected in series such as by connecting the terminal 61 on the left-most plate to the grounding terminal 80 on the next plate, the terminal 64 on-the second plate to the grounding terminal on the next plate and so on. As the number wheels and thus the contacts of the contact elements 31 are rotated during the counting operation, there will be provided, when the counter reaches the preset number, a closed brace the hub of a number wheel and the other of saidI C shaped portions forming a pair of electrically connected spaced contacts for cooperation with an associated stator p ate.

2. An electrical contact means for use with a number wheel comprising 'a metallic member having two angular/ly related C shaped portions, one of said C shaped portions being dimensioned to receive the hub of a number wheel and having an inclined flange along its inner edge for resiliently engaging the hub, the other of said C shaped portions forming a pair of electrically connected spaced contacts forcooperation with an associate stator p ate.

3. In a counter, a number wheel having an axially extending hub, and electrical contact means on the number wheel comprising a metallic ele nt having a rst C shaped portion embracing the hub and a second C shaped portion forming a pair of electrically connected spaced contacts and being resiliently hinged alongthe back thereof to the back of said first C shaped portion.

4. In a counter, a number wheel having an axially extending hub, and electrical contact means on the number wheel comprising a metallic element having a C shaped base portion extending about the hub having an outwardly turned flange along its inner edge resiliently engaging the hub and a pair of spaced electrical contact points carried by the base portion. 4

5. In a coimter, a number wheel having an axially extending hub, electrical contact means on the number lwheel comprising an element formed of exible sheet metalhavingacshapedbaseportionextendingabout thehubintherewithandaCshapedetact portion diverging from the back of the base portion, and a lug on the periphery of said hub outwardly of and engagingsaid base portion to prevent axial movement thereof.

7. In a counter, a number wheel having an axially extending hub, a stator plate having circularly arranged electrically conductive portions mounted in side-by-side relationship with the number wheel, and a contact bridging electrically conductive element carried by the number wheel comprising a C shaped base portion mounted nn the wheel about the hub thereof, and a pair of arms extending from the back of and angularly relatedto the base portion forming a pair of spaced contact points.

8. In a counter, a number wheel, a stator plate having a circular grounding strip and a plurality of circularly arranged individual electrically conductive portions spaced radially from the grounding strip, said stator plate being mounted in side-by-side relationship with the number wheel, and a bridging contact element having a base portion secured to the side of the number wheels and 20 a exible metallic C shaped portion angularly related to the wheel having contact end portions at different radial distance from the center of the wheel for cooperation 6 respectively with the grounding strip and the individual electrically conductive portions of the stator plate.

9. In a counter, a plurality of side-by-side number wheels, astator plate extending along one side of each numbergwheel, each of said stator plates having a circular grounding strip and a plurality of circularly arranged individual electrically conductive portions spaced radially from the grounding strip, a bridging contact element carried by each number wheel for cooperation with the associated stator plate having one contact for engagement with the grounding strip and a second contact for sequentially contacting the individual electrically conductive portions as the wheel is turned, and means for electrically connecting the stator plates in series to form a closed circuit at a predetermined count of said number wheels. t

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,222,007 Valley- Nov. 12, 1940 2,632,830 Aust et al. Mar. 24, 1953 2,727,222 Bush e Dec. 13, 1955 

